The invention is based on a method for driving a receiver stage.
Oscillator phase noise is an interfering side effect when an oscillator is intended to cover a large frequency range. This oscillator phase noise can, on the one hand, be improved by optimizing the associated PLL circuit. On the other hand, the oscillator noise can be reduced by using two separate oscillators for a large frequency range. Their ranges are then sufficiently small for the phase noise to be improved.
With this solution, however, the inventor has noticed that whenever the oscillator frequency is a fraction or a multiple of the received frequency, another received frequency could in turn be there, which would then work as a kind of received disturbance frequency, and thus oscillator pulling occurs, which then severely impairs evaluation of the received signal.
The invention is based on the object of providing a method and apparatus which reduces oscillator pulling.
The method according to the invention for driving a receiver stage having a selection means, a frequency divider or multiplier, a control unit and an oscillator is distinguished by the fact that the selection stage is adjusted such that whenever the oscillator frequency is a fraction or a multiple of a received disturbance frequency, this received disturbance frequency is attenuated by the selection means.
If the input signal is supplied conventionally to a receiver stage not in accordance with the invention, and the isolation between the oscillator and the input stage is not sufficiently high, oscillator pulling occurs, as already mentioned above. For this reason, the invention involves adding and driving the selection stage. The selection stage would then attenuate signals of external origin which oscillate at a similar frequency, such as that of the oscillator frequency, so that these do not have an interfering effect on the receiver stage.
The method of a special embodiment is characterized in that a first oscillator is used for a first received frequency range and a second oscillator is used for a second received frequency range. By splitting up the oscillator working range into two frequency ranges, the phase noise is reduced. In that one or more selection stages are then additionally provided an improved phase noise response is maintained but oscillator pulling is reduced also. The first oscillator works for example at the direct input frequency, the second at a fraction or multiple of the input frequency. The second oscillator would therefore preferably be supported by the method according to the invention.
The method is additionally characterized in that the conversion stage (I/Q demodulator) is allocated a low-pass filter for the first received range and a high-pass filter for the second received range. In this arrangement, the control unit drives advantageously a respective divider or multiplier for the second oscillator, so that another oscillator frequency is then used.
A further possibility is for a divider or multiplier to be driven, whenever the control unit establishes that the oscillator frequency is a fraction or a multiple of the received disturbance frequency, such that another oscillator frequency is used which is then no longer another multiple or a fraction of the received disturbance frequency. This makes it possible to match the selection optimally, so that the output signal from the receiver stage is optimized.